The drive home from the Labelle, QC CEC was hell. Endless traffic snarls, courtesy of a major repaving project on the 401, made our already melancholy drive a 12-hour test of patience. Melancholy? Yup. We can’t believe the incredible 2010 CEC season is over…

We’ve looked forward to each round this year, making new friends across the country and watching them grow as riders. This Royal Distributing Canadian Enduro Championship, presented by Parts Canada, was new-school enduro racing at it’s best. So ya, like the last day of school Jamie West and I drove home from Labelle wondering, “what next?”

We’ll be pumping out stories, photos and other Labelle stuff over the next day or two, so keep checking back. Here’s a quick recap of day-one, round seven.

Labelle Quebec CEC day one, round 7 quick recap

What can we say to describe what a pretty place Labelle, QC is? It’s like having a race in an episode of the twilight zone, where you’ve stepped back in time to a place much simpler and more picturesque than what we’ve gotten used to. We love it there, but perhaps not as much as Schrage who couldn’t resist taking a souvenir mouthful of Quebec dirt back to Alberta with him.

Pretty doesn’t mean easy, however. Even pro riders were having a hard time dealing with the wet, black Quebec mud and slime covered rocks of the enduro test and transfer sections. The loop, 36 km long, seemed to take forever for riders to complete and in between laps the pits were a frenzy of bike washing and emergency repairs.

Flat tires, twisted radiators and broken shifter and brake pedals topped the ‘smashed’ list. Suzuki’s Chris VanHove drowned out his RMZ250F in the morning and was lucky to get it running well enough to complete lap one! On each lap the C, B and even A riders fell further and further behind the pros.

Instant pressure washer: Jason Schrage does a quick water bottle squirt to clean the gunk out of his radiators.

The cross-test was awesome. Think dark, loamy topsoil, natural elevation changes, crazy fast speeds and giant berms. The stuff moto-dreams are made of! Riders were unanimous in saying it was the best part of the course.

The Extreme test was once again in the sand pit, and like last year the C and B riders struggled with the vertical sand walls. Even the best pros found the bottomless sand tough to ride.

Industry support for the CEC series remained strong, with all the teams represented. Even the Rekluse rig made it’s way up from the U.S!

One thing for sure, Husqvarna is the manufacturer to beat this season, as least from a marketing perspective. Three Husky trucks, pro tents, a full team on everything from 144 two strokes to 450fs made it clear that Husqvarna has big plans to be THE enduro motorcycle brand of choice in the very near future.

It’s a pretty dramatic market shift, with the traditional sea of orange being very watered down by the red Italian motorcycles.

The Pro-enduro rookie of the year is most definitely Kitimat BC’s giant-killer Ben Rego. He put his bone stock YZ450 (with worn-out tires and brakes!) on the E3 podium and finished fifth overall! Patrick Koether from Rekluse was so impressed with Ben’s riding and attitude that he and Idaho Joe installed a new Rekluse clutch in Ben’s bike for his attack at the upcoming Montreal Endurocross!

Anyway, time to roll and dig through something like 3000 photos. Stay tuned for the complete Labelle report, and check www.worldendurocanada.com for full results!